Black and Dragon for 30 Kisses LJ Community
by semtester
Summary: IchigoTatsuki: Written for 30 Kisses LJ Community. Posted Theme 6 The Space between Dream and Reality
1. No Matter What

FF(dot)Net Title: Black/Dragon – 30 Kisses  
Chapter Title: No Matter What  
Author: livejournal username: brightredglow / ff(dot)net: puaena  
Characters/Pairing: Tatsuki/Ichigo  
Fandom: Bleach  
Theme: #1 - Look Over Here  
Rating: K  
Disclaimer: Bleach and the characters of Bleach are the property of Kubo Tite.

A/N: Written for the LJ Community of 30Kisses. I'm going to try to go in order. I'm creaky at writing and it shows. I hope to get better. Still, I didn't want to wait for perfection before posting or I would run the risk of never posting. Yet aside from being rusty, I tried to stay within Bleach canon as much as I understand it, which can go up and down (Kubo is sneaky like that). With that said, I apologize in advance for any errors in both proofing and characterizations. Thank you.  
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No Matter What  
(Theme #1 Look Over Here)

"Look over here!"

Tatsuki's head snapped up in curiosity. Being the new student, she knew the boy wasn't talking to her. Being the new student and a girl meant the boys didn't talk to her unless forced to. And because she was a fast learner and the youngest girl in the dojo meant the other girls didn't talk to her unless forced to.

And that made for a lonely one-hour life for one 4-year-old girl, but that's the way things were no matter what age you were or no matter how much the sensei told all the kids that as long as they were part of the dojo, they were brothers and sisters. The truth of it was that kids made up their own minds when they decided to like someone.

Maybe that was why she got up to look at what the others were staring at. For just a few moments, she wanted to belong and besides, instead of staring at her, it was a relief that they were looking at someone else.

"Look at his hair, Masa," one of the older boys whispered, mindful of where their teacher stood. "Its orange. Its freaking crayon orange."

"And he's like Momotaro small," the boy named Masa snickered back, a little too loudly.

"Sato! Fujishiro!" the sensei called out, abrupt and fierce. The old man's ears were keen and his eyes, black and beady like crows. "Run!" he commanded. "Now!" The two boys stifled their groans and went swiftly outside. Their punishment was enough to make the other children drag themselves back to their pre-warm-up routine.

Tatsuki barely took notice of the boys as they left and she didn't return to her warm-ups. She couldn't pull her eyes away from the boy with hair as spiky as her own but color that was the direct opposite of hers.

The new boy was small just as they said, but that wasn't unusual. There were others just as small and some of them were older. And yes, his hair was a bright and unusual color. Tatsuki did not know many boys but of those that she did know, none of them had hair the color of orange fire. But even then, his weird hair wasn't what caught her attention.

It was his smile. Tatsuki had never seen a smile so big and goofy before and she blinked in confusion at its oddity. "What's wrong with him?" she wondered as she scratched the back of her head.

He stood with his hand firmly entwined with his mother's as she spoke with sensei's wife. With an innocent expression, his open gaze scanned the big room with awe and wonder until his eyes entangled with hers.

Tatsuki frowned but didn't turn away. It wasn't just his hair that was an strange color, but his eyes, a mixed up kind of yellow and brown, was strange too and in spite of herself, she felt her cheeks grow warm. "Stupid boy," she muttered, agitated and not happy about it.

He was too far away to hear her but at her scowl, he laughed. He laughed as if he already knew they would be friends and Tatsuki did not know whether to be annoyed or grateful. Annoyed that he would think they could be friends when they didn't even know each other or grateful because she wasn't the new student anymore and that had to be worth something.

Before she could turn away and ignore him the same way the other kids had ignored her on her first day, the new boy was being brought to her. "Arisawa, this is Kurosaki," one of sensei's assistants told her. "He'll be your sparring partner."

And that was the sum total of the first introduction between Arisawa Tatsuki and Kurosaki Ichigo. Plain, to the point and completely unavoidable.

Those first weeks of partnership were torture for Tatsuki. It was an indescribable awful. It wasn't that he beat her because he didn't. He couldn't even land a hit. And it wasn't that he didn't learn because he did. As sensei often said, Ichigo had a good sense of eye hand coordination, his legs were flexible and supple and although he was small, he was fast which forced her to be faster and she didn't have any problem with that.

Her problem with Ichigo was that he cried. The first time he did it was when she landed a solid blow to his upper body. That had made her smile in triumph. Being a girl and making a boy cry was equivalent to being the toughest girl in the world and that was Tatsuki's goal.

On the second and third time, her ego still felt good, but on the tenth and eleventh and twelfth time, it started to wear her out, not to mention it was embarrassing because everyone would look at them as if they were both crying instead of just him.

"Ichigo, you can't cry every time I hit you," she grumbled.

"But it hurts," he sniffled.

"Do you cry when you stub your toe?" she snapped.

"Hai."

"No! You're supposed to say no! Ichigo, boys don't cry. Don't you know that?" she questioned in frustration.

"You're a girl and you don't cry," Ichigo reasoned as he wiped his nose on the sleeve of his gi. "Aren't girls supposed to cry?"

"No."

"Then why can't boys cry?"

"Because you're just not supposed to. When girls don't cry, it is a special thing. Like not screaming when seeing a spider. But boys are not supposed to cry," she told him solemnly. "At anything."

This oft-repeated lecture from one four-year-old to another was futile and at least one of them knew it because no sooner did the lesson begin to barely sink in then class would be over and sensei would say, "Kurosaki! You're mother's here!" and Tatsuki's weekly lesson in toughening up Ichigo would burn to cinders in the wake of his fire orange hair and blinding smile as he flew to the side of his mother.

Tatsuki would sigh every time this happened and wonder why it was that Ichigo was even there. If she were caught crying, her mother would have said, "Stop crying, Tatsuki. We didn't pay for these lessons so you could cry." So Tatsuki never dared to cry but not so Ichigo. Ichigo cried at the end of nearly every session and his mother, impossibly beautiful, patient and kind, was always there to give him a hug and more important, she always brought him back with his hair full of fire and his smile full of sunshine.

And Tatsuki, tough girl that she was attempting to become, grudgingly admitted to herself and only herself that she was glad. Ichigo may have been a crybaby but at least he wasn't full of himself like some of their classmates and she never felt lonely as long as Ichigo was around.

As months passed, Ichigo got a little better. With her help, of course. Sensei was so busy with all his other students that he often told her that she needed to help Ichigo. Tatsuki took this task seriously. After all, someone had to help him. They were almost 5 and he still cried, although not as much.

After a particularly hard sparring match, Tatsuki was elated. She'd not only beaten Ichigo, but better than that, Ichigo hadn't cried at the end. "See," she said with a grin, "you don't always have to cry."

Ichigo gave her a shy smile. "Yeah, but I'd rather get a hit in."

"Maybe next time," she told him.

He took off his head gear and went to where his mother was standing. With her was Ichigo's father, a tall man with hair as dark as Tatsuki's. He looked a little frightening to the young girl until he smiled and she saw that his smile was as big and goofy as his son's.

Tatsuki giggled a little at the thought and turned away to put her head gear in her bag before she went to look for her own mother. As she began to half-carry, half-drag her bag across the floor, she heard a voice call out, "Look over here, Tatsuki-chan."

Confused, Tatsuki turned and saw Ichigo coming back to her. "What is it, Ichigo?"

He held out his hand. "This is for you. You said you liked mine so I got one for you." He opened his hand and in his palm was a three-star pin.

"What is it for?"

"For you."

"I know that but why?" Tatsuki had seen the star pin on Ichigo's bag and she had told Ichigo that it looked cool and she wished she had something like it to decorate her bag. She hadn't thought that Ichigo would remember. He had problems remembering the day of the week. Even she knew the days of the week and she was two days younger than he was.

"For being my friend. For helping me and not laughing at me and my hair and my crying..." he trailed off, embarrassed at his admission and he looked away from her.

Tatsuki blinked hard at him. She'd never thought that his hair bothered him or that he'd noticed when others were teasing him. She wondered if it was harder on him than he showed. She wondered further if his big smile hid big hurts. She blinked again and realized that she didn't like the idea of Ichigo being hurt by anyone. Not even herself.

Quietly, she opened her hand, palm up. With an unaccumstomed hint of shyness, she said, "Arigatou, Ichigo."

As he placed the pin into her hand, the tips of his fingers glanced off hers. It reminded her of a brush of kiss that her mother sometimes gave her. As they often did whenever he was around, Tatsuki felt her cheeks grow warm and she coughed to hide her sudden discomfort. "Friends or not," she stumbled in an effort to regain her usual bossy bravado, "you still cry too much and you haven't beaten me yet."

He grinned, not fooled by her tough talk. "But I will," he promised resolutely. "One day, I'll beat you." He started to go to his mother and father who were waiting at the door. Before he'd taken two steps away from her, he said with an eagerness that she felt herself but could never express, "And we'll still be friends, won't we, Tatsuki-chan? No matter what?"

Even at the tender age of almost five years old, Arisawa Tatsuki knew that the words 'no matter what' held no guarantees, but when his smile grew bigger and brighter than the sun as he waited for her answer, she found that she didn't want to think about that far off time when 'no matter what' came and went. So she nodded. "Yeah, yeah. We'll still be friends. No matter what."

Then he laughed as he went to meet his mother and father while Tatsuki gripped the three-star pin and vowed that they always would be friends...no matter what.

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A/N #2: The three star pin was inspired by its appearance on the cover pages of both Ch 9 Monster and Transfer (It appears on Ichigo's jacket) and 20 Face Again (It appears on Tatsuki's hat). Details like that are why I love Kubo and Bleach even when it drives me crazy. So while I made up the story why they both have the pin, I didn't make up that they both had the pin. ;-)

Next: Theme #2 – News; Letter


	2. Letter from School

Title: Letter from School (Bleach, Tatsuki/Ichigo, #2-News; Letter)

Author/Artist: ff(dot)net-puaena; lj user - brightredglow

Characters/Pairing: Tatsuki/Ichigo

Fandom: Bleach

Theme: #2 -News; letter

Rating: G

Summary: Two children haven't been to school.

Spoiler Warnings: None

Disclaimer: Bleach and the characters of Bleach are the property of Kubo Tite.

A/N: For the 30Kisses community at LiveJournal. Had more difficulty with this one than the first. Everything I'd come up with was already done by someone else and done way better ao I gave up and just started writing whatever came to my head. Thankfully, it was short. That is the good thing about running low on plot bunnies: stories stay within the readable drabble realm. Still, I have to apologize in advance because I took liberties with Tatsuki's parents because we've yet to meet them. If they ever do make an appearance in Bleach and they are totally different from this story, I shall re-do the story. Thank and enjoy.

* * *

Letter from School 

Theme #2 - News; Letter

It was the letter that brought them to the school.

The girl's parents went to see the teacher.

The boy's parent went to the principal's office.

* * *

"Your daughter hasn't been coming to school for the past four days," the teacher began nervously, eyeing the worried parents with caution.

The man and woman looked at each other and then at the young woman. "What do you mean?" the mother asked, confused. "I see her leave the house every day."

"One of the other kids said that Tatsuki's been going to the river bank with Kurosaki Ichigo."

"What!" the parents fairly screeched. Being neighbors of the Kurosakis, they were well aware of the misfortune that had befallen the family, but the Kurosaki tragedy did not shed light on why their daughter would go to the river with Ichigo.

"Why would Tatsuki do that?" Mr Arisawa asked his wife abruptly.

His wife shook her head helplessly. "I don't know."

The young teacher studied the parents and carefully considered her next words. "Perhaps she is helping Ichigo with something. She is rather protective of him."

Mr Arisawa snickered slightly. "That boy. He's always been a little cr--"

"He's a young boy who just lost his mother," the teacher intervened with the sweetest voice she could conjure so as not to offend. Mr Arisawa, to his credit, had the grace to look ashamed. "The main reason we asked you to come in is to make you aware of the situation and to advise Tatsuki that she must return to school."

"We'll tell her as soon as we get home," Mrs Arisawa told the teacher.

"May I also make one more request?" the teacher asked. The parents nodded. "Can you ask her if she can persuade Ichigo to come back as well? Maybe he will listen to her."

* * *

"You have to understand. My son was very close to his mother." The father sat in the chair facing the principal's desk. He leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, but there was nothing relaxed about his body. His hands clenched tightly together, his shoulders curved forward, tense, his expression pained.

The principal frowned and looked away as if embarrassed to be having this conversation, as if knowing that nothing he could say would be of any use or comfort to this man.

But he said what he needed to say in spite of his discomfort. It was his job, after all. "I understand that Ichigo is having difficulty, but he must return to school. If he doesn't, he may not be able to catch up."

"We--" the man began to reply on automatic and then stopped himself abruptly, took a hard swallow and corrected himself, the skin around his mouth white and tight. "I'll get him a tutor," he rasped as he raised a hand to scratch at the back of his neck. "He can catch up. He's a smart boy. He just needs a little more time."

The principal took a long breath and then leaned back in his chair. "Dr Kurosaki, I know that this is hard for you and your family. I can recommend someone for Ichigo to help him with his grief and--"

Kurosaki interrupted, "It isn't another doctor that he needs. I'm a doctor and his father. I already know what he needs and it is a little more time. It has only been a week."

"it has been more than a week, Dr Kurosaki," the principal corrected. "In addition, one of his classmates has begun to stay away from school too."

"What does that have to do with Ichigo?"

"She's been seen at the river with Ichigo."

The big man opened his mouth to say something, his bushy brows drawn together fiercely to start a defense of his son. Then just as suddenly, he expression went slack and his mouth lifted in a wry smile. "Young Tatsuki-chan?" he asked, although he seemed to already know the answer."

"Yes," the principal confirmed. "Her parents are meeting with their teacher as we speak." The principal stiffened further and said, "I know that you want to give him more time, but Ichigo needs to start back up at school, Dr Kurosaki. The sooner he gets back on his normal routine, the better. As a father and a doctor, you must know that."

Kurosaki Isshin, newly single parent of three young children, slouched wearily as if the center of his universe had imploded upon itself and he no longer had anything to hold him up, said nothing.

"Dr Kurosaki?"

"Yes, I know he does," the father and the doctor conceded, his voice tired, his eyes lifeless. "I'll talk to him as soon as I get home."

* * *

In their respective households, the parents of two nine-year-old children threatened to walk them to school when both children had remained stubbornly silent when questioned why they ditched school.

It had the effect that they had hoped because neither child wanted their parents to come with them but for very different reasons.

The girl because she knew that she would be lectured from the time she woke up until she reached the door of the school. It was the last thing she wanted and her parents knew it.

The boy because it would be a reminder of who wasn't walking with him. It was the last thing he and his father wanted and both knew it.

In the end, the girl and the boy promised they would walk to school together.

For part of the way, they had to walk along the river. Both kept their eyes focused ahead, no conversation between them. Now and again, they'd shift the straps of their napsacks and continue on.

But when they got to a certain point, the boy slowed and finally stopped and turned to the river.

The girl's parents had emphasized over and over that she was responsible to get him to school so she stopped as well and stood next to him. She knew she should tell him that they would be late if they didn't get going but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Instead, she waited and watched him as he fixed his eyes on the spot where his entire world had changed.

The girl didn't know what to say as she saw the expression on his face contort and change and it frightened her a little. "Ichigo?" she asked.

He shook his head but it was not in answer to her unspoken question but to some other question that only he could hear.

Softly, he said to the river, "She won't kiss me anymore, will she? My mother. She's gone."

With the release of his words, Tatsuki, who never cried, suddenly found herself fighting the urge to cry and she shivered and shivered until the urge went away.

Instinctively, she reached out and took Ichigo's small hand in her own. Embarrassed by what she had done, she almost pulled her hand back but then she felt his hand close around hers, squeeze and let go.

"We'd better go, Tatsuki-chan," he said, his voice different from the way it had sounded on June 16th. "We'll be late for school."

They both looked at the river once more and then she nodded and said, "Yeah, let's go."

It was not until they had long left the river and the ghost that they had never found that she realized that her voice had changed too.


	3. Different

Title: Different  
Author: puaena/brightredglow  
Characters/Pairing: Tatsuki/Ichigo  
Fandom: Bleach  
Theme of 30Kisses: #3 -Jolt!  
Rating: K/G  
Spoiler Warnings: Inspired by events from Ch 183.  
**Disclaimer:** Bleach and the characters of Bleach are the property of Kubo Tite.

A/N: Relieved. This is the third try at this theme. My goal was to stay under 500 words. Goal was met at word count of 461.

* * *

Different  
#3 - Jolt!

It was the first day of school since summer vacation ended and a little less than a month since he'd seen his school friends.

As he moved past them in the hall, Ichigo knew he was years beyond them. He felt proud yet awkward. They were the same and he was different and he was at a loss of what to say so he said little to nothing.

Only three others understood his dilemma so he took his place amongst them and the companionable shelter they offered.

He and his friends had only a short time to greet each other when a blur of action crashed around them. One moment, he heard Orihime squeak in surprise as hands reached around to grab her and in the next moment, he saw a long, bare leg stretch out as Tatsuki's foot forcefully connected to the jaw of the scarily amorous Chizuru.

A mute spectator, he watched as she and the bleeding Chizuru exchanged words. Unlike a month before, Tatsuki didn't lose her cool. Her teeth gritted, her eyes rolled in disgust, but nothing more as she slung her schoolbag over her shoulder and put her other hand in her pocket.

With an unfamiliar jolt to his gut, he studied the girl he had known forever as she moved to her desk. He noted that her hair was a little longer, her neck a little more delicate, her cheeks a little higher, her mouth a little softer. Her eyes remained expressive as they had always been, but there was an element, subdued, cautious and mysterious, within their depths that had not been present before.

He leaned away from the friends who had traveled with him to that other world and towards her. Unsure of himself and not sure why, he tripped over his greeting, "O..su." He started again. "Long time no see, Tatsuki."

At the sound of her name, she turned her attention to him. As her eyes connected with his own, he saw them widen to mirror the surprise he felt.

A heartbeat or two passed before she answered him. "Osu."

Hesitantly, they began to talk. He fought against the contradictory feelings of being comforted by this girl's presence and unnerved by what she could see but wasn't supposed to see.

He would not have time to seek answers for the questions in his mind. They would be interrupted first by the entrance of their teacher and later by events that were about to move faster than any of them could adjust.

But one day, when he had time for silence, he would recall the moment like a missed opportunity at a kiss and he would admit to himself that while he had been busy at becoming different, she had become different too.


	4. Your Villain

Title: Your Villain  
Author: puaena on ff(dot)net/brightredglow on livejournal  
Characters/Pairing: Tatsuki/Ichigo  
Fandom: Bleach  
Theme: #4-Our Distance and That Person  
Rating: K/G  
Spoiler Warnings: Readers not up to Ch 214, there are minor spoilers.  
Disclaimer: Bleach and the characters of Bleach are the property of Kubo Tite and Shueisha.

A/N: Lack of inspiration and too much work led to a long delay. I'm still committed to finishing my 30 kisses though. I really want that Hall of Fame banner. The entry here is a "What If/Possible Cut Scene" moment that could be inserted in Chapter 214 "Immanent God Blues". Events in upcoming chapters may be prove this scenario wrong, but I rather like the possibility that it could have happened.

Your Villain  
#4-Our Distance and That Person

_"I know that I can't carry on like this."  
Kurosaki Ichigo, Ch 214, Immanent God Blues_

* * *

She never told anyone that she could sense the energy that emanated from Ichigo. It had always been present even when they were children like a humming that vibrated the air around him. She would have punched herself in the face before admitting it to anyone, but to herself, she could say that she found the simmering warmth addicting to be around.

Since school resumed after summer vacation, the energy she had once found oddly comforting was sending shivers through her body. It was no longer simmering like a warmth. Instead, it was snapped and growled as if hungry and trying to devour every particle around it.

One day when standing next Ichigo, she nearly asked him how it was that he could stand the weighted pressure that was encircling him. Yet for some reason, she could not find the courage to ask the question and so she had kept her questions to herself.

But on this benignly beautiful fall morning, she followed that dark energy as it left a trail as tangible as a paved road.

Her secret, among the many that she kept, was that she had remembered everything. She remembered fighting a monster that had speared her with shards to take control of her body, but not her mind. She remembered the odd transfer student called Kuchiki Rukia. She remembered the weirdness that had happened at the Don Kanonji show. She remembered the night that she had come out of karate practice and watched the souls of her teammates and friends drift away. She remembered when Sado jumped in front of her to keep a huge man-monster with a bone mask from obliterating her. She remembered Orihime picking her up and taking her away. She remembered watching Ichigo appear to save them all and the dark heaviness that had tried to push her into the ground.

No one knew that she remembered. No one had even asked.

She did not wonder if this was a good thing as she was not sure if she wanted the answers to the questions that she had in her mind. Answers would come soon enough. Of that, she was sure. She could only hope that she would be ready when that happened.

For so many years, she had considered herself strong and brave, but she was no longer sure of what was strong or brave or if she even possessed either trait and it shamed her to near tears.

But after the events of the evening before, she knew that she could no longer ignore him. If there was a distance between them, it had started long ago, but that person between them had to be dealt with. For his sake, Tatsuki had no choice but to go to where he was.

The pit before them had seemed larger in her memory that it was in reality. In her mind, it was the size of a volcano crater. In truth, it was the size of a small swimming pool. Reconciling the truth and the memory was difficult especially when being in the area of that horrible night made her lungs contract as if the air was too heavy to breathe.

Tightening one arm around her midsection and the other hand gripping her school bag, she moved forward gingerly to get closer to him. She noticed that he was partially dressed for school like he had changed his mind at some point about whether he was going to school or going somewhere else.

He did not notice her. She knew this because she saw his shoulders slump forward in a gesture of uncharacteristic defeat.

Seeing that unusual gesture from him made her falter and it took her a moment to find her voice. _"If you have any bravery left in you," she said silently to herself, "now is the time to show it."_

"You...will...You'll...," she started, her normally strong voice stumbling as if her vocal chords didn't know how to make sounds. She took a breath as his head lifted but did not turn. "You'll find a way, Ichigo."

He was quiet for more heartbeats than she found comfortable, but finally, he spoke. "You don't know what is happening," he rasped in the manner of a sinful confessor.

Her fingers tightened around her schoolbag and she glanced away from his back to the tree where she had been left on that frightening night not so long ago. "Yeah. I don't."

It hurt to admit that. She didn't know about anything that was happening and he wasn't going to tell her and it hurt her to be left out. Part of her wanted to launch into him and yell at him for being so stuck up. But the other part of her just wanted things back to normal. That part of her was stronger than the other part and so she set aside her hurt.

"I don't know what is happening," she told him, turning her eyes back to him. "I didn't know exactly what was happening when your mom died, but I saw how you handled it. You'll find a way to deal with it. That villain inside you. You'll find a way to deal with him."

"Tatsuki, we're not kids anymore." His shoulders slouched again, not in defeat but as if overwhelmed by a weight she couldn't see. "You don't understand."

"Stop that!" she ordered, frustration and a frigid sliver of fear creeping into her voice. He didn't turn but his back straightened. "I've known you since four years old, Ichigo! You think you've changed, but some things don't change!"

"Yes, they do!" he countered through clenched teeth, air whistling as he spat out the words.

"No, they don't!" she rebuked. "I know you, Ichigo. I may not know you as well as Orihime or Sado or even Ishida seem to know--" She stopped and folded her arms tightly about her, the knit of her school sweater beginning to leave marks on her skin, and started over again. "But I still know some things about you. And I know that once you decide to face a problem, you do what you need to do to solve it."

"Tatsuki, I--"

He began to turn around but she stopped him. "Don't! I don't want to hear about how this is different. I already know it is and I know that there isn't a lot I can do." Her voice cracked under the weight of that truth. "But I can do this at least. I can tell you that you'll be strong and you'll find a way. Since I haven't made you tell me things that you don't want to tell me, the least you can do is believe what I say and make it true."

He said nothing for a few moments as the wind circled around them.

"Defeat my villain," he snickered but not unkindly as he tilted his head up at the sky. "You think it will be that easy."

She snickered back. "No, but since when have you ever liked doing what was easy?"

He laughed at that, but it seemed to Tatsuki that he offered the sound more for her sake than his. Ichigo could be kind like that when he wasn't trying to be cool in his grumpiness. Sighing, she said, "Do what you need to do, Ichigo. It has worked for you before. It might work for you now."

"How do you know?"

"I don't," she answered and began to turn as he started to turn to her. "Remember, I'm the one who doesn't understand anything," she needled, hoping that her tone was humorous rather than jealous. She was certain that she was unsuccessful but felt confident that Ichigo was dense enough to miss it.

"Can I tell you something?" he asked.

Tatsuki avoided looking into his eyes and nodded. "Sure."

"I'm scared."

Of anything he could have said, that was the last thing she expected. Such an admission from Ichigo was as intimate as a kiss. Maybe more than that. After a few stunned seconds, she finally allowed herself to meet his eyes. One eye was still the odd amber-brown that she had always found more fascinating that the bright hue of his hair. But the other eye was different. In the corner, a darkness was leaking into it. Tatsuki fought the urge to step back. If she had, she would lose what precious little ground she had gained in the fight to keep their distance from growing so she offered him the only truth she could think of.

"I'm scared too."

He smiled a bleak smile and tilted his head away from her. _"I know that I can't carry on like this."_ (1)

She nodded in agreement. "Then do what you need to do so you don't have to," she told him and then walked away to leave him alone with his decision.

Later that morning, it came as no surprise to Tatsuki when she heard that Ichigo took leave for the day.

She looked out the window and said in a whisper, "Good luck, Ichigo."

* * *

A/N: (1) This line is directly taken from Ch 214/pg11 


	5. Special

Title: Special  
Author: puaena on ff(dot)net/brightredglow on livejournal(dot)com  
Characters/Pairing: Tatsuki/Ichigo  
Fandom: Bleach  
Theme of 30Kisses: #5-Ano Sa (or "Hey, you know...)  
Rating: K/G  
Spoiler Warnings: Manga readers not up to date, there are minor, vague spoilers. For manga readers who are up to date, nothing of surprise.  
**Disclaimer:** Bleach and the characters of Bleach are the property of Kubo Tite.

A/N: Did something a little different this time. Characters appearing are Tatsuki, Yumichika and Renji, with mentions of Ichigo and Orihime. The scene centers on Tatsuki with a subtle hint of Ichigo/Tatsuki (to remain in canon, one-sided). With the ongoing tease of Tatsuki's role in the new arc, I had to think of something to tide me over until her next appearance so this vignette is just me imagining a possible conversation that could take place at some time or other. After all, **someone** in the Shinigami team has to notice Tatsuki's spiritual level eventually. At least, I would hope so. big sigh

* * *

_Special_  
#5 - "Ano Sa" ("Hey, you know...")

Gazing upon the block of a building, Ayasegawa Yumichika instinctively understood why the young people who were forced to spend time in such an ubiquitous place wore the blank expressions that they did. Karakura High School was not an unpleasant place, but there was nothing special about it either. To Yumichika, whose sensitivities to such things were acute, there was an instant empathy as to why teenagers in this time were moody.

"Ano sa, Abarai-kun," Yumichika mused leisurely to the tall man who leaned on the other side of the tree, "now I know why Kurosaki is such a brat. Look at where he's had to spend his time. I would be a brat too."

"You are a brat," Abarai Renji returned amicably. "And who knows why Ichigo is the way he is."

There was an offhandedness in the way Renji spoke that indicated that he was only half-interested in their conversation. Yumichika pondered on the idea that he should be insulted by the lack of attention, but even as self-centered as he could be, he knew that the present was not the time to indulge in such feelings. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Renji push off the side of the tree with his elbow and ask, "Do you know where to look?"

"For the girl?" Yumichika asked as he straightened the tie he was forced to wear as part of the costume of high school student.

"Yeah," Renji replied as he grimaced in agitation and folded his arms. "On that first day, you felt it too?"

Yumichika nodded. "The spirit power was faint but there." He turned to his colleague. "I'm surprised you felt it too. Ikkaku, Matsumoto and even Hitsugaya-taichou didn't seem to pick up on it."

"Their minds are on other things," Renji admitted ruefully. "And from their reactions, I doubt that Rukia and Ichigo felt it or they might have said something."

"Are you sure about that?" Yumichika inquired with a raise of his peacock brow. "We don't know how far Kuchiki-san's abilities have recovered and Kurosaki is too distracted to notice a reiatsu as subtle as the one we detected."

"Yeah, I know but Inoue-san has not mentioned anything about her either and from what I've heard, they are friends." Unlike Yumichika who was in the school uniform of Karakura, Renji was neither in a gigai nor in the school uniform, but rather in his Shinigami attire. Although he was in his spirit form, his bound red hair appeared as if the strands were fireblood in the noontime sun, a dour reminder of the battles recently fought. "We could be mistaken," he said on a tired breath.

"Perhaps," Yumichika conceded with an airy lilt in an effort to lighten the tone. "But we need to find out for certain. From the reports, she survived a direct attack from an arrancar. A normal human would have died."

"Which means that she may have spirit power."

"And that means that she could be a target," Yumichika added. "As shinigami, part of our duties is to protect human souls. We cannot forget that even on this important mission."

Renji nodded but Yumichika could see that his worries were taking his attention elsewhere. "Are you sure you'll be okay?" Renji asked reflexively.

"Ne, Abarai-fukutaichou," Yumichika returned with a low laugh. "Are you worried about me?"

The semi-flirtatious teasing brought Renji's attention back to him and he snickered. "No, but I thought I'd ask anyway."

Yumichika giggled and grinned. "That's what I thought. But even if you were worried about me, you have no need. These are mere humans and I am not only shinigami but I am smart and beautiful and a member of the 11th division. If I can handle being smart and beautiful and still survive the 11th, then I can handle wandering around a high school amongst a bunch of teenagers."

"Then I'll leave it to you."

As his colleague turned away, Yumichika inquired archly, "And where will you go?"

"Help Rukia."

The humor fell away abruptly and Yumichika's brows drew together at the implication of Renji's words. "So he's yet to be found?" Renji shook his head and Yumichika released a low whistle. "That's not good. He should be easy to find with his inability to hide his reiatsu."

He saw Renji's back stiffen but he said nothing before disappearing.

* * *

Ayasegawa Yumichika knew how to keep a secret and how to find a secret. And so it was that Yumichika had assigned himself the duty of searching for the secret that he sensed on his first day in this strange town called Karakura.

He strode through the halls of the high school as if he had done it all his life. Lazily, he ignored the whispers that followed in his wake. Most of the humans were of no interest to him and he cared not what they thought of him.

But he was interested in one human. One human girl to be precise.

If he had confessed such a thing to Ikkaku when his friend had asked him where he was going, Ikkaku would have sniggered in disbelief. "You? Look for a woman?" he would have asked in profound shock. Granted, Yumichika did not often seek the company of women, but he was not averse to one if her comeliness met his high standards. After all, he was not like Ikkaku who succumbed to a woman's soft charms if she was moderately pretty or at least willing to ignore his shiny pate.

And if Ikkaku's reaction had the potential to be mortifying then Matsumoto's reaction would have been worse had she been privy to his thoughts. If she knew what he was up to, she would be on her pretty little cell phone with a call straight to his fukutaichou and the little girl would have spread the news in two seconds flat across Seireitei. And the information would be almost completely wrong which would only make the gossip last even longer. Truth died fast, but near truths had a way of lasting forever.

"Baka!" he muttered affectionately as he made his way around the school. Ikkaku was his best friend and sometime more than best friend and Matsumoto could be an ambiguous boy's best girlfriend, but both of them could be dense when it came to the subtlety of spirit power so he had said nothing to them.

Only Renji knew what he was in search of and why and it was better that way. Renji was nearly as good at keeping secrets as he was.

He nearly gave up for the day until he came to the school dojo and found the object of his search.

Dressed in a white gi with a black belt loose around her waist, she was working out with a heavy bag. From the doorway, he studied her with a sense of undeniable visual pleasure as she executed a complex routine of movement. Although she was petite in size, she pounded the bag with hits, hard and fast, and kicks, high and low, that caused the bag to swing to and fro. Her movements were disciplined and graceful that made her power all the more arresting to the eye.

He leaned indolently against the doorjam as a small smile formed on his lips. He noted that her features were fine yet her mouth formed a determined smirk that indicated she was unaware or uncaring of her attractive attributes. Indeed, she had the look of a delicate girl, but her inky black hair, spiky and hastily brushed, gave the impression of punkish tomboy. The contradiction was a pleasant one and he mused on the idea that the girl was aware of the effect that her lack of artifice might have on another.

Then he remembered who her friend was and he decided that it was likely that she had no idea of her physical attractiveness.

Her friend, Inoue Orihime, had a face that shone with an angelic beauty that was impossible to hide and her figure was rich and lush. Even for a man who possessed such discriminating tastes as his own, he found the young siren difficult to resist. He could well imagine that the girl in front of him, with her subtle grace and boyish facade, would be shielded by the reflected beauty of Inoue-san, but as he watched the young woman before him, he admitted that if that was the case, it was a shame. While her features did not compare to the loveliness of Inoue, she had an enigmatic allure that she could call her own and her body was symmetry perfected and such perfection was not lost on a connoisseur like Yumichika.

As he recalled her bare legs in the school uniform she was required to wear, his fingers twitched in recall of how they had wanted to skim along the ivory skin as if planting kisses that started from her tiny ankles to the sweet curve of calf through the delicate joint of her knee and up past the perfect shape of her femininely muscled thigh.

He sighed and closed his eyes in remembered bliss of beholding the magnificent flawlessness of her limbs. _Yes_, he thought proudly, _I am a connoisseur of the highest level to understand such perfection._

"Why are you here?" The question that interrupted his self-congratulaton was devoid of any inflection of politeness.

Yumichika opened his eyes and smiled widely. "I am here for you," he answered congenially as he brushed a hand across his dark, neatly trimmed locks.

The girl's large eyes narrowed in wary doubt. "Yeah, right. Now why are you really here?" she reiterated firmly.

"I am here for you," he repeated easily. He released his senses to probe the air around her for clues to the question that needed answers. To buy himself time with her, he queried, "May I ask your name?"

The girl folded her arms and tucked her taped hands under her breasts. "You are here for me but you don't even know my name?" she questioned sharply, a corner of her lips twisting upward in suspicion.

Yumichika had to think quick as the girl took the lead in this opening round of talks. He hadn't anticipated that so instead of trying to think of a charming lie, he decided to go with a charming truth. "It is true that I do not know your name but I noticed you upon my first day of school here at Karakura. I've also noticed that you stay rather late and I was worried about you walking home at this late hour."

He had thought that being his most solicitously generous self would soften her to him, but his efforts had the opposite effect as the girl gazed past his shoulder to the afternoon sky behind him. "It isn't that late," she challenged logically. "It isn't even dark yet."

_She is proving to be most vexing_, he thought to himself. "But it will be late very soon and it will be dark even sooner. It is the season after all," he countered with a light chuckle.

The conversation would have begun to frustrate him except he could feel something in the air bubbling around her. _That's it, little girl!_ he speculated with a gleam he tried to hide from his expression. _Just a little more and I'll be sure._

A swirl, a tantalizing swirl, of reiatsu seemed to escape her tight hold to reveal itself, but just as quickly as it appeared, it dissolved and Yumichika had to fight from releasing an annoyed sigh as he realized that he would have to be persistent after all. "Would you permit to walk you home? Miss..." he prompted hopefully.

Dark eyes gave him a cool once over from toe to head. Whatever she saw in him seemed to placate her as she gave in. "Arisawa. Arisawa Tatsuki."

"Arisawa-san, may I have the pleasure of walking you home?"

An arm loosened from her tight fold and she put a taped hand on her hip. "Yeah, whatever. As long as you drop that sweet way of talking. I doubt I'm your type so you don't need to be so fake."

Her charge of phoniness irritated him. He conceded it was because she had seen through him and as such, he was not very successful at keeping his irritation out of his voice. "Oh and what is my type?"

Tatsuki didn't flinch as she regarded his feathered brow. "Let's just say that it ain't me. That's all we both need to know."

There was something in her voice that made Yumichika back off when he would normally have gone forward. If there had been an insult in her words, it was not directed at him. Of that, he was certain. But if it had not been directed at him, then it had to be self-directed. He frowned in displeasure at the thought but decided to leave well enough alone. "As you wish," he agreed with bland geniality.

She nodded briskly. "I need to go change. If you are still here, then you can walk me home. If you get bored waiting, then you can do what you like."

He smirked slightly at the implied dare. "I can wait, Arisawa-san. Somehow I doubt that you are the type of female that keeps others waiting."

Her brows drew together as she bristled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Only that you are different," he rejoined with a grin. "No more, no less. Go on and change. Take as long as you like," he offered on a slow drawl. "I shall be as patient as need be and wait."

His generosity was met with a huff as she turned away from him.

* * *

Ayasegawa Yumichika had politely ignored the way she had so completely proved his observation of her to be correct. Inside of 15 minutes, she was at the door, fresh faced, dressed in her uniform with her hair still damp from the quick shower she'd taken to refresh herself. He did, however, find it difficult to cover his unrepentant grin. After all, he did enjoy it when he was right.

In an effort to pretend that she didn't see his delight, she slung her bag over her shoulder and bluntly asked, "So what's your name?"

Effortlessly, he took her schoolbag from her hand with his own and courteously moved out of the doorway to allow her to take the lead as they began to walk away from the dojo. "Ayasegawa Yumichika," he supplied smoothly. From the corner of his eye, he could see she was undecided on how to react to his manners which only delighted him further. "But you may call me Yumichika."

He noted with interest that she took the long way to the school grounds's exit as if she was avoiding a particular area. He also noticed that it was not until they got to the sidewalk outside of the school that she lifted her trancelike gaze from the ground and her stiff shoulders began to relax.

"Do you let just anyone call you by your first name?" she finally asked in a neutral voice.

He put a hand in one of his pants pockets. It was an action he was rather fond of. In truth, pockets were the only thing he liked about the otherwise confining clothing that he had to wear. "No, I don't," he told her.

"So why are you letting me? You don't even know me."

He shrugged leisurely. "Because you seem trustworthy." His answer appeared to give her pause and she slowed to a stop. He felt the rise in reiatsu in the air. This time, it lingered enough for him to mentally gauge that the reiatsu was not faint, but rather tightly controlled. He wondered if the girl knew what she was doing or if she was truly unaware of the secrets that her body was keeping from her. He stopped alongside her and turned to face her. "What's wrong?"

"Why?" Her question came through gritted teeth. "Why are you here?"

He sensed that there were several levels to the question she was asking but he grabbed the most obvious and least taxing. "Because it is late and a young woman shouldn't walk home by herself at this hour."

Her face lifted and the gazed sharpened on him. "I walk home alone every day. Why would this day be different?"

Her skepticism was not passive yet Yumichika detected that she was fishing for an answer rather than asking for one outright. He sighed in sympathy. "Perhaps it is not the day but the person who is different."

"Why won't you answer my question?"

"Because if you wanted an answer, you would ask the right question and we both know it."

She blinked up at him, her dark eyes in turmoil, and for a brief moment, Yumichika thought she might ask the question that was on her mind. Her mouth opened, then closed. Turning away from him, she resumed walking. When she finally opened her mouth to speak, it was to ask, "Where was your bald friend today? And that woman with the gravity defying boobs?"

Her inquiry was the first indication that she had noticed them when they had appeared in her class. Up until that moment, Yumichika had wondered if she was going to pretend that they did not truly exist. With a light skip in his voice, he said, "Ikkaku is busy with human relations research and Matsumoto-san is just busy who knows what."

"Human relations research?" she queried dryly. "What is that?"

"You don't want to know," he replied with a tight grin and a tighter shrug. "Or maybe I don't want to know so let's change the subject. Why don't you tell me about Inoue-san and Kurosaki?"

It was her turn to shrug. "What about them?"

"They are your friends. Tell me about your friends."

A single brow lifted. "Orihime is Orihime. Ichigo is Ichigo."

"Well, that was a boring answer," he chided teasingly. "They must be more interesting than that." He felt slightly guilty at needling her in such a fashion, but he was discovering that certain subjects had a way of cracking open the barrier that she held firmly about her. He was certain that if he prodded a little more, he would get a better feel of the girl's secret.

"You probably already know the good stuff," she lobbed back to him.

"But I want to know what you know."

"Why?"

He touched her arm to stop her. "Because you know the secrets," he said to her, his teasing tone disappearing. "And secrets are much more interesting. Don't you think?"

She shook her head with a certainty that belied her age. "No, I don't think that. Secrets aren't interesting. Secrets hurt."

The girl's guarded wisdom caused him to consider her anew. She was formidable in her circumspection yet she was too young of a human for him to believe that she had always been this way, but newly learned habits were often the hardest to break. He tried a different tactic to lighten the conversation. "You're rather pretty. Why do you hide it?"

"Are you always this bold?" she sputtered in confusion.

He looped his arm through hers and prodded her forward. "Yes. I find that boldness saves time."

"Your time, but not mine," she threw out accusingly. "And I don't have time for this."

"Yes, you do."

If it were possible, her dark eyes began to boil and her jaw tightened. "No, I don't," she insisted. "I don't have time to waste with a pretty boy like you."

He could not repress his delight at her words. "How wonderful!" he trilled, his cheeks growing warm with happiness. "You think I'm pretty!"

"Of course you are!" she snapped with dying heat. "You must know it. You have mirrors where you live, don't you?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, we do," he admitted airily. "But I try not to look too often in them or else I would never get anything done."

The next couple of seconds were filled with her dumbfounded silence. Then slowly as if it were a trickle from a leaky faucet, her body became lax as if declaring defeat. "I do not understand you, Ayasegawa Yumichika," she muttered in perplexed disbelief. "But what's new about that? I don't understand anything anymore."

And with that one admission, Yumichika had his answer and he couldn't help but be a little sad for her. "You'll understand soon," he told her with a melancholy he couldn't shield her from.

"Do I really want to?" Her expression was stricken but oddly resigned.

"Maybe not," he acceded with a clarity that was as much for him as it was for her. "Maybe not."

By silent, mutual consent, they resumed their walk with conversation that drifted to safe, non-threatening subjects such as her karate, her interest in singing, his beauty and his beautiful habits. When they were done with those subjects, they drifted into a companionable silence that was unbroken until they came to the front of a plain, but comfortable looking home. "May I ask you a question?" She nodded as he handed over her schoolbag. "Do you know where Kurosaki is?"

She half laughed up at him, her even teeth flashing through the rueful smile in the lingering afternoon light. "How should I know? I'm not his keeper."

His expression softened at her non-answer. "You may not be his keeper but you are his friend and you do know him. More than you will admit."

The enigmatic eyes flitted away from him. "I don't know him. Not anymore."

He didn't believe her nor did he let her off the hook. "We need to find Kurosaki."

"Maybe he needs to be left alone." The undercurrent of warning was easily detected as was the sharp glittering of reiatsu that had begun to surround her. It was the strongest show of her reiatsu that she had allowed all afternoon. Once again, Yumichika was struck with the profound sense that the girl was harboring another secret, but he did not press her further as he had learned enough for one day.

"I have to go," she told him politely, effectively closing the subject of Kurosaki Ichigo. "Thanks for walking me home. It was..." she paused to think of an appropriate word "...interesting."

He unthreaded his arm from hers but not before allowing the tips of his fingers to skim along the smooth skin of her forearm. He was rather pleased when he saw her shiver in response. "I will walk you home tomorrow."

She blinked in surprise and confusion. "You're kidding."

"No, I am not. I will walk you home."

"But why?"

There were several answers to that question but he stuck with one. "Because I will not give up."

"Give up? Give up on what?"

"On finding out the secrets you keep."

She snickered. "You are definitely being weird now. I'm not the one with secrets. I'm just a girl. I'm not anything special." She backed away from him. "Thanks again for walking me home." She gave him a half wave and then turned away.

He watched her until she disappeared into her home and said to the incoming night, "Ano sa, you are special." He frowned in dismay at its implications and added, "You just don't know how much yet."


	6. Sealed

**Title:** Sealed  
**Author/Artist:** Puaena for ff(dot)net and brightredglow for livejournal for the 30kisses livejournal community  
**Characters/Pairing:** Tatsuki/Ichigo  
**Fandom:** Bleach  
**Theme:** #6-The Space between Dream and Reality  
**Rating:** K+

**Spoiler Warnings:** If you are caught up with the manga, none although it is inspired by the conversation between Isshin, Karin and Yuzu in chapter 197, "The Approaching Danger" regarding whose been in Ichigo's room. The entry below takes place while the two are still in middle school but other than that, this entry is completely made up with no canon support whatsoever.

**Disclaimer:** Bleach and the characters of Bleach are the property of Kubo Tite.

**A/N:** Due to an unexpected family event, I had to take a needed break. Once I returned from break, the events in the manga had been less than inspiring. Yet, when I saw this month's 30kisses purge list, I knew I had to get my behind in gear because for whatever reason, I feel the need to stay faithful to these two. As such, I told myself I would write something, ANYTHING, for them whether it was good or bad just to save myself from the purge bin. The below is the result. I won't lie. It isn't very good and I still need to proof it and clean it up and probably shorten it, but to save my pairing, I think it is decent enough to post as-is. I hope to do better on the next go around.

Sealed

#6-The Space between Dream and Reality

With cautious relief, he set his pencil down and then slid the math and notebook closed. "Thanks," Ichigo threw out to her in his half grumbling way that he had of speaking. "I can't believe that I still suck at word problems."

Tatsuki stretched out on the cool wood floor and snickered good-naturedly. "Thank me if you get a good grade," she admitted with her characteristic bluntness. "I'm not that great at math either. If you wanted real help, you should have asked Kunieda-san."

Ichigo shuddered at the thought of approaching the highly competent, highly intimidating, highly tall Kunieda Ryo. "She hates me," he said with conviction.

The girl he'd known forever laughed at him. "Baka!" she said with a grin. "She doesn't hate you. She'd have to notice you to hate you."

"Jeez. That makes me feel so much better," he gritted sarcastically. "If she doesn't notice me then why should I have asked her for help?"

Tatsuki leaned up on her elbows to get a good look at his scowling face. "Because Kunieda-san never passes up an opportunity to be superior. If you were still on the martial arts team, you would know that," she accused with a raised brow.

He shifted uncomfortably whenever she brought that subject up and this time was no exception. "Are you ever going to get off my back about that?"

She shrugged and then laid back down, her head turned toward the window. "Probably not," she admitted. "We'd be an unbeatable team if you were on it. It pisses me off that you are being so stubborn."

"I'm not a team player," he groused.

"You say that like you're proud of it," she snapped back, her dark eyes seeking out his in challenge.

It was a challenge he met and much to his chagrin, he lost in short time. No one ever beat him in a staring contest quite like Tatsuki. "I just have other things to do," he defended feebly.

"Yeah, like what?" Tatsuki put her hands in the back of her head. "You've got time on your hands. Yuzu does the cooking. Karin walks herself to and from soccer practice. You avoid your dad for safety reasons. All you do is go to school, get into fights after school, come home and study. It isn't healthy for kids of our age to be such a slave to routine. Where's your spontaneity?"

He snorted as he slid to the floor. "You're one to talk, Miss Chairwoman of the Student Disciplinary Committee. You're so straight-laced and disciplined that you practically march on your way to school."

She sat up abruptly and the large, dark eyes flashed indignantly. "I do not!"

"Yeah, you do."

"Do not!"

Ichigo held up a hand dismissively, secretly pleased that she was riled. "Whatever."

"Yeah, whatever," she pouted and scratched a nail at the floor. After a moment of quiet, she asked in genuine concern, "Am I really that bad?"

He shrugged and lifted a hand to absently finger a copy of a manga that was lying under his desk. "Nah," he answered. "But you are disciplined. My dad likes that about you." Almost as a reluctant afterthought, he added, "I envy that about you."

The silence that came from his companion was deafening. He looked across at her and saw a deep frown on her face. "What?" he asked cautiously, certain that he was about to be clocked.

"Don't do that," she ordered.

"Do what?"

"Say stuff like that," she said, her mouth tense. "It's weird."

It was Ichigo's turn to frown but for him, it was in confusion. It wasn't weird of him to envy Tatsuki's discipline or her skill as a martial artist and a person. He'd been doing it since he was 4 years old so what was so different now?

He watched her as her gaze slid away from his and caught the book that he had his hand on. Her eyes widened as she saw the title. "Ichigo! You read that stuff?" she asked, her expression full of surprise.

Startled by the abrupt change in conversation, he looked blankly down at the book called "Paradise Kiss" by Yazawa Ai. "It isn't my book," he answered easily. "It's Yuzu's. She comes in here sometimes and reads while I study."

"You let Yuzu read that stuff!"

The 14-year-old boy was stumped at the not-so-slightly accusing tone. "I don't let Yuzu read anything. She reads what she wants. What's the big deal? It is just a shoujo manga."

Tatsuki leaned over him and her thighs, bared by her school uniform, brushed against his knees. He was used to this familiarity from her. Up until their 7th grade year, it wasn't uncommon for them to get into wrestling matches that were boisterous enough that it would bring his father to his room with the cry of "Please let me join in the fun!"

Ichigo cringed at that particular memory even as he caught a whiff of an unidentifiable fragrance in Tatsuki's hair. It was not a flowery smell, but it was clean and straightforward, just like Tatsuki.

And it was then that he realized that it had been quite awhile that they'd had a wrestling match.

"You do realize what is in this stuff," Tatsuki was saying to him as he was trying to figure out what exactly was making his brain do mental hiccups.

"Obviously, I don't," he countered, unnerved by her closeness and pissed off about it.

With an expression of patient annoyance, she flipped through the pages until she found the one she wanted and turned it around to him. Ichigo's eyes bulged as he noted an explicitly drawn intimate scene with a dialogue of "It's in!"

"What the f-mmm!" Tatsuki put her hand over his mouth before he could complete his surprised shout.

"Shut up, Ichigo! Do you want your father charging up here!" she admonished and snapped the book shut.

Ichigo grabbed the book and scanned it. "My little sister… my 9-year-old little, innocent sister is reading this!" he cried in dismay. "Whatever happened to magical girls in sailor suits?"

Tatsuki's brow rose and then she shook her head. "The magical girls are still out there, but the little girls obviously want a little more." She retrieved the book and sighed. "You might want to take a peek at what else she is reading. Karin is the worldly one but Yuzu is different." The teenager smiled with obvious affection. "We don't want her to grow up any faster than she has already."

Ichigo nodded and leaned back against his bed. "So how do you know about this series?" he asked as nonchalantly as he could manage. Shoujo didn't seem Tatsuki's type of reading material.

She eyed him with a flash in her eyes that seemed to indicate that she was mildly insulted. "I'd heard about it from the other girls," she confessed. It was his turn to lift a brow. "Hey, I might not seem like a girl to you, Ichigo, but I still am one," she said, her voice suddenly soft.

He saw her head angle away from him and she moved to put some space between them. He was not sure he liked the feeling but he couldn't help being curious.

"Do you think about that stuff?" When she lifted a confused expression to him, he jerked his head to the book. "Do you think about doing stuff like that?"

A slight rose color dusted the creamy cheeks, but her voice was steady. "I guess so," she answered. "I mean, I'm 14 now and we've had health class. Don't you think about it?"

He hadn't expected for her to turn the question back on him and belatedly, he thought himself stupid for it. But since she'd answered him, he thought it only fair to answer her question. "Yeah, sort of."

"Really?"

"Don't look so surprised," he grumbled. "I'm 14 too."

"So what do you think about?"

"Damn, do we have to talk about it?"

Tatsuki blinked in puzzlement. "What the hell are you talking about?" she asked, faintly exasperated.

Ichigo felt his cheeks redden when he realized he'd misunderstood her question and they began to burn when he saw that Tatsuki caught on to his mistake.

But she wasn't one of his best friends for nothing and she turned away and gave a little cough to hide both their sudden mortification. "I…uh… I don't know if I'll like it," she admitted as a way of taking the pressure off him.

"Like what?"

"Any of it," she answered vaguely. "Even kissing." She hesitated and a dark look came across her features. "When I dream about someone kissing me, I always dream that it is all watery and gross and then I hit him to get him away and then I am wiping my mouth and I can never get it dry."

Ichigo gave her a look of disgust. "Who the hell are you dreaming of kissing you?"

"It wasn't you!" she spat out sharply.

"I didn't say it was!"

She started to get up but he grabbed her wrist to stop her and noticed for the first time in their lives, how delicate and feminine it was. "Tatsuki," he began, his voice as even as he could make it which was a big effort on his part, "I wasn't…that is, I didn't mean…" Ah fuck, what did I mean? he thought bewilderedly. What am I trying to say?

He paused to pull his thoughts together and finally settled on admitting the truth. "I dream that I don't know anything and that even if I did find a girl to kiss, I'd do something really stupid like kiss her so hard, her lips start bleeding."

Tatsuki relaxed visibly and released a rare giggle. "And then she hits you and runs away."

He offered her a rare grin. "Nah. It usually ends with my dad hitting me and telling that poster of my mother that I am a disgrace and a failure that I can't even kiss a girl right."

Tatsuki winced. "That's a little too realistic to be a dream, Ichigo."

"Yeah. My dream is way worse than yours." His hand was still wrapped around her wrist and without thinking; his thumb had started to caress the soft skin in small circles. He wasn't sure where the idea came from but it was out of his mouth before he could stop it. "Do you want to try it?"

He felt her freeze. It even seemed like the pulse beneath his thumb stopped. He scrambled to explain. "I mean, you and me, we've done all our firsts together. I got my first black eye from you. You got your first broken arm because of me. We fought our first fights together. If I can't have my first gross kiss with you, who can I have it with?"

She was so quiet that Ichigo wondered if some spirit had taken the normal Tatsuki away. He'd expected her to bark some insult at him or flip him backwards, but she remained silent and studying the grooves in the floor. Finally, she said, "A first kiss isn't like those firsts. It should be with someone you like."

He smirked. "I like Chad, but I'd rather not share a kiss with him."

She rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, but maybe it'd be better to have it with someone I trust."

A flicker of emotion went through her eyes and it was gone faster than he could decipher it. Then she shook her head in resignation and relented. "Okay. Let's do it then."

The pragmatism of her acceptance didn't unnerve Ichigo. Quite the opposite. It gave him a certain confidence that he'd manage this moment without embarrassing himself too much.

This was Tatsuki, after all.

He put his hands on her shoulders as she scooted closer to him. "Should I tilt my head this way or that way?" she asked.

"You go to the right and I'll go the other way," he answered firmly.

"Don't open your mouth right away," she instructed him as his face got closer.

"Yeah, yeah," he whispered, their breaths beginning to mingle. "You don't want me to spit in your mouth."

"It's not that," she protested. "It's…" The words were cut off as he settled his mouth on hers.

He wondered if it was always this natural to kiss. It really felt like skin on skin except her lips were really soft like marshmallows. He felt her small hands cup each of his elbows as it to support them. Without even thinking, his hands slid upward along her neck and around her jaw line. He wasn't sure when it was that he should close his eyes, but somehow, they seemed to close on their own.

He pulled away a little. His breathing a bit shaky but he figured it was nerves. "How was it?" he asked, a bit more eagerly than he'd intended.

"Nice," she admitted with a tiny smile. "It was nice. Can we try again?"

"Yeah," he agreed. "Let's try again."

This time, he moved his lips across hers almost as if he was asking a question and in response, she answered back. They repeated the motion, back and forth, until it was the most natural thing in the world to let his mouth open over hers.

He'd swear later when he was in the midst of a cold shower that he never meant to do it. He didn't even know he could do it, but he did do it and she let him.

On pure instinct, he let his tongue venture forward and run along the seam of her lips, caressing the smooth softness and wonder of wonders, the lips parted on a small sigh and her delicate tongue came forward to touch his tentatively and so sweetly that Ichigo's rational thought process was short-circuited.

The feelings that churned within him as he kissed Tatsuki were a mix of pleasure and warmth and security and excitement and he wondered when he had ever felt this good or if he'd ever want this strange brew that was intoxicating him to end.

How long they kissed, he would never know. All he knew was that it was an insistent pounding on the door that broke them apart. "Ichi-nii!" Karin shouted against the door. "Tatsuki-chan's mom is on the phone and said she needs to go home."

The two teenagers looked at each other in a confused state of longing and despair that the interlude was over and disorientation that it had even happened.

Ichigo gulped. "You'd better go." She nodded and pulled away. They both jumped in fear as they realized that one of Ichigo's hands was sliding out from beneath her uniform top.

Tatsuki scrambled up as clumsily as he'd ever seen her. Her cheeks were a bright red. Ichigo, still shell shocked, continued to sit on the floor as she sputtered words at him that he tried to make sense of. "Uhm, okay, that was nice… I mean, good. I mean, unexpected." She grabbed her book bag. "Thanks, Ichigo, for…uh….yeah, thanks."

She yanked open the door and mumbled a thank you to Karin who was still standing outside the door and ran past her.

"What did you do to her?" Karin asked calmly as she walked into the room. She stopped in the middle and made a curious expression. "Ichi-nii, is it kind of warm in here?"

It was borderline to Ichigo on whether or not the question was pure innocence and Ichigo fought off an embarrassed groan. "Yeah, Karin, it is a little warmer than usual in here."

Karin, who was smarter than the average little sister, gave her brother a long, assessing once over. With her hands on her hips, she said, "You might want to get cleaned up. Yuzu is almost done with dinner and old beard-o is almost finished closing up the clinic."

"Yeah, yeah," Ichigo mumbled as he began to push himself upright. "Hey, Karin, who got Yuzu this book?" He picked up the Yazawa book.

Karin gave him a lopsided grin. "If you tell me why this room is warm, then I'll tell you how Yuzu got that book."

"Little blackmailer," he growled.

"I prefer to be called a negotiator," she corrected with a preternatural self-confidence that he'd never had.

Ichigo blinked at his dark haired sister's worldly expression and sighed. "Fine," he conceded. "Then can we negotiate to keep this stuff away from Yuzu. At least until she's thirteen?"

"All right. This is gonna cost you though," Karin warned, a gleam in her merchant loving eyes.

Ichigo shook his head. "Not this time, Karin," he said firmly. "Are we clear?"

Whatever Karin meant to say after that, she thought better of and she nodded in agreement and left the unusually warm room and her brother to his own thoughts.

hr /

His world didn't change after that day. For some reason, he thought it would but Tatsuki had greeted him the next morning as if nothing had happened. It was as if the kiss had happened in some weird dream although he was certain that it had been reality.

Embarrassed and slightly insulted by her casual dismissal of the event, he told her that she had been right in telling him that he should get Kunieda's help for math since her grade on the math paper was no better than his.

"All this proves is that you should listen to me more," she blithely returned, undeterred by his grouchy attitude as they walked home along the river.

Annoyed at her outward calm, he asked her as if he couldn't help himself, "So what did you do after you left my house last night?"

Her expression twisted momentarily and he noted with a gleam that it was the first misstep she'd made all day. "When I got home, I meant to clean up and go to bed, but a friend called and we talked for awhile."

"What friend?" Ichigo wasn't really curious about her friend since she had lots of them. He just wanted something to keep the conversation going to see where it would go.

She slung her book bag over her shoulder. "Inoue. Inoue Orihime," she answered. "You should know her. She's that girl whose brother died. She's in my home room."

Ichigo knew the girl only barely but he remembered her clearly. He also knew what Tatsuki had been doing for her. Suddenly, he felt shamed that he was being so grouchy with her. "I heard that you've been protecting her," Ichigo said.

He felt her gaze slide sideways to him and then she gave a half-laugh. "She's a good girl. She doesn't deserve the crap she's been put through." Tatsuki slowed her pace and then stopped and looked intently at the ground. "She deserves good things. I've never known a nicer person." She turned to him, her big eyes serious. "She kind of reminds me of you when we were little."

He frowned, a bit unnerved by her expression. "Are you saying that I'm not nice anymore?" he mumbled nervously.

She rolled her eyes. "No, I was trying to compliment you."

"Yeah, whatever. Like you said yesterday, that's weird."

She elbowed him in the side. "I did not say that."

He flinched but did not waver. "Yes, you did."

"No, I did not."

"You must be taking a lot hits to the head in practice to forget things so easily," he lofted at her.

She paused and one side of her mouth twisted upward devilishly. "I do not forget things. I just file them away in their proper place."

"Is that so?" he inquired, his voice suddenly serious.

The line of her mouth straightened and she said, almost regretfully, "Yeah, that's so."

Their gazes held and then he nodded in agreement. He knew that the moment in his room would forever be sealed between a dream and a reality and never brought out again.

And it was no surprise to either that it was the last time she would be in his room for a long time.


End file.
